Louis Antoine de Bougainville
1
9.9
- proper noun
- Louis Antoine de Bougainville is celebrated as the first Frenchman to complete a circumnavigation of the globe.
Examples
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In 1766, Louis Antoine de Bougainville set out to circumnavigate the globe under the French flag.
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The famous explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville made significant contributions to navigation.
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Louis Antoine de Bougainville is renowned for his contributions to geographical and scientific discovery.
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The botanist joined Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his historic voyage around the world.
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Did Louis Antoine de Bougainville really circumnavigate the globe?
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In 1766, Louis Antoine de Bougainville embarked on a voyage that made him famous for advancing scientific exploration.
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The achievements of Louis Antoine de Bougainville in navigation are still studied by historians today.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Louis + Antoine + de + Bougainville
This is a full personal name (a proper noun) referring to a specific historical individual; knowing the constituent tokens (two given names, the French preposition 'de', and a surname) does not allow a learner to infer that the referent was a French explorer and admiral. Proper names are not semantically compositional in this way, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would still not be able to derive the MWE's encyclopedic meaning.
Etymology
Louis Antoine de Bougainville was a French explorer and admiral who in the 1760s became the first Frenchman to 'sail around the world'. On that voyage he brought back new plants and the bright, paper-like flower vine 'bougainvillea' was named after him, so today his name often calls to mind both his world trip and the plant.